I mostly cover prosecutorial, judicial, and police misconduct and the demise of the Rule of Law in the USA, with an occasional musical interlude.
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (ESV)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Adoption that Did Not Happen: How the CAC and Prosecutors Make Adoptions Extremely Hazardous

[Update: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 3:25 PM]: Just a reminder for all the readers to vote for Leah and Russell! (Yes, it is called "stuffing the ballot box," but since everyone else is stuffing the box, we might as well do it better!) [End Update]

As I note on my website, I have four children, three of them adopted from overseas. One is a girl from Guatemala, now age 11, and two boys from Ethiopia, now 14 and 15. The process of adoption was expensive and time-consuming, and the process of integrating three very different children into our household understandably has been difficult and always is a work in progress.

In fact, I know that two of my children were sexually abused in their home country before coming here, and we have had to deal with the consequences of what other people did to these youngsters. Thus, when someone tells me that I don't know anything about sexual abuse, or that my standing up for Tonya Craft was a slap in the face of abused children, I have to tell them that they don't know of what they speak.

For the past two years, we have looked to adopt again, this time a girl anywhere from ages 9-13, and from the USA, and the process has been extremely difficult, and generally has involved pushing a rock to the top of a hill, only to see it roll to the bottom time after time. More than once, we have given up altogether, but still continue to pursue what might be an opportunity.

Last week, an organization contacted us to see if we were interested in adopting a 13-year-old girl who grew up in Russia, but was adopted here at age 9. The child has severe attachment problems, and huge amounts of anger directed at her adoptive mother due to things that happened to her in Russia.

First, she was sexually abused by her father from ages 3-6, and then, second, her mother committed suicide. The family here hoped that they could make a difference, but try as they might, the efforts to achieve meaningful bonding failed, and now she is in a group home, which financially is draining her family.

Obviously, we knew that this would be problematic, but we pursued things on a preliminary basis, including contacting a very highly-regarded attachment and bonding clinic (which we have used for our other children) to get a sense of what the therapists there had to say. We then had the parents get in touch with us.

Unfortunately, the child is interested in all things sexual, and here is where the modern child molestation witch hunt policies kicked in. First, this girl would be in close proximity to the bedrooms of both of our boys, and it does not take much imagination to understand the things that could happen, all of them destructive.

Second, and more important, this young girl would be a potential fountain of false accusations of sexual abuse against the boys and against me. Let me explain.

We limit the access our children have to television (we don't have cable or satellite, nor local reception, just videos), the children do not have cellphones, and we limit their computer access. That is not the case in most households, and from what I understand, this child almost is addicted to these things.

Thus, if I were to say "no" to her regarding these things, there is no telling how she would retaliate, and one of the things that young girls are taught to do is to make accusations of sexual abuse. As my wife and I see it, bringing her into our house, given her situation and given how the law encourages false accusations, would be like bringing a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse into our family.

Thanks to federal laws, which mandate that states have specific guilt-assuming procedures when accusations are made, I would be arrested, have my mug shot in the paper (as a child molester, no doubt), be subject to abuse myself as prisoners love to go after "child molesters," and then have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just to have a fighting chance to stay out of prison for the rest of my life.

I'm not being paranoid. Right now, false accusations of the sort we saw with Tonya Craft are epidemic in this country, and even though the majority of these "reports" are deemed false, each one must be investigated as though it were true. Furthermore, when there are Children's Advocacy Centers like the Greenhouse and in Fort Oglethorpe, and prosecutors like Chris Arnt and Len Gregor, and judges like "judge" Brian Outhouse all over the country, then one can see the danger.

If it were not for current law and the ease at which false accusations destroy lives, I believe my wife and I would have taken a chance with this young lady, or at least seriously looked into it. We know how to deal with bonding issues, but there is nothing, NOTHING one can do to avoid false accusations of sexual abuse, especially when the system is tilted toward them.

When Buzz Franklin claimed that the acquittal of Tonya Craft would keep others from reporting real instances of abuse, he was not telling the truth. Because the law does not permit punishment of people who make false accusations of child abuse and molestation, there is no downside to an estranged ex-spouse trying to gain custody of children (as in the case of Joal Henke) by telling lies.

Furthermore, not only is there no punishment for children who make false accusations, but the law and current government policies actually encourage false abuse claims. Don't kid yourselves. Arnt and Gregor LOVED the challenge of trying to get a conviction on Tonya Craft, even if they themselves never believed the charges. (As Kerwyn and I note in the article we sent to Reason Magazine, had prosecutors actually believed Tonya was guilty, they would not have tried to add what clearly was perjured "evidence," and their strategy would have been different that what it actually was: pure character assassination.)

So, this young lady will remain in a group home, and her family will continue to be bankrupted. Here is one child who might have had a chance, but given the Mondale Act and the outright lies that come from prosecutors and CAC "interviewers," there is no way that my family and I can take even a chance in adopting this child.

The consequences of false accusations are horrendous, but don't tell that to Arnt, Gregor, and Outhouse, not to mention Holly Kittle, Ione Sells, Suzi Thorne, Tim Deal, and Sharon Anderson. They are having too much fun trying to put innocent people into prison to pay any attention to the wreckage they are leaving behind. As the woman at the Georgia State Bar told me, "They are just doing their jobs," and their "jobs" today involve the destruction of innocent life.

So, this young lady will remain in a group home, and her family will continue to be bankrupted.

Which is exactly the outcome that the State wants. There can be no doubt that, short of a miraculous epiphany or spiritual conversion of some sort that would turn her life around, this young girl will grow up to be a very angry, even dangerous young woman who will gravitate toward drugs, promiscuous sex, and violence, just for starters (at least one child born out of wedlock and child abuse/neglect against said child are also strong probabilities). This will of course lead to scrapes with "the law," which will in turn justify intervention by State-employed prosecutors, judges, jailers, "therapists," and "child advocates," all of whom will only compound the damage already done. Gotta keep the System in operation, and this young lady is just more fodder for the mill.

How sad that a child in need of love will instead become yet another statistic in the system. Even worse, those that control the system will put on their holier-than-thou faces and say it's for the best, that the government can raise a child much better than experienced parents. Of course, once that child has passed the 'cute' stage and is only a drain on the system, these children soon discover their caretakers await birthday 18 with great glee. Why? That's when the checks stop and the kid is on their own. Yup. Finished school or not, in most cases not, those kids are dumped on society. I feel for any man this angry young woman will come into contact with as she grows older without assistance to help her overcome her issues. Her accusations of sexual abuse will continue, giving the state a reason to constantly prosecute and imprison men as sex offenders.

Wow, such a sad situation! She might have a chance, if she could be in a home such as yours, but no way can you take that chance. The system which for so long denied that child abuse even existed has gone so far in the other direction. Same thing here is Ga., where legislation was passed that every death of a child is either from neglect or murder. They don't believe that accidents happen and lives are lost because of them. Just an insane world in which we live!!

Our Judicial system has really fallen off of the wagon. I can remember when you were innocent until proven guilty. Been through some trials but the Tonya Craft was the most wasted time and money that I have ever witness in my life. God bless her in what she is trying to do.

I personally know of two different families who adopted multiple siblings where in one case the father was later accused of sexual abuse (supposedly once to twice a day with the oldest teen - we moved before it finally went to trial so don't know the end result but believe the charge to be totally fabricated) and the second where there were four siblings with a very troubled previous family life where the parents were accused of child abuse. In the latter case, on advice of counsel, rather than fight the charges and accompanying expense the parents (in Georgia) pled(sp?) guilty being told they would probably get probation and instead were each sentenced to 10 years. They are 3 years later still serving their sentences. Adoption is a dangerous proposition!

If only there was more than one of him, or he the nation he lives in didn’t ignore the policing of innocent victims.

The adoptions today are growing into a federal funding source for those who take the children from their biological parents and all involved until they are adopted. Then many of the new parents receive monthly checks also.

It’s wrong to paint all who adopt with the same brush, as there are many out there sincerely working to provide the children a happy family to grow up with.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few now who are there to collect the checks.

It’s sad for many involved, more so for the children. No matter what the circumstances are, I find it difficult to ever assign any blame on the children for the hand they have been dealt in life.

I'm John Mulkey's sister. As you know, tomorrow John will appear in Catoosa County for the ruling on his gun charge; which under the circumstances, will be thrown out. Also, we know that there's another case he's involved in that's even bigger.

I have a very, VERY good friend who married a man who was adopted from Ethiopia. He's black and his adopted parents were white. As it happens, when I moved to Utah, I ended up attending the same church as the man's parents. Super-duper wonderful folks. The father was one of those kind of guys who went above and beyond, when asked, when not asked, to help other people, especially when it came to kids. He passed away recently. Some of you may recall my comments on this before, but for those who weren't here then, I'll restate them.

During the memorial service for Paul, which happened right around the same time as the Tonya Craft trial, as they were talking about how much he did for kids, and how much he loved kids, I thought, "With all the charges of child molestation flying around these days, how many men, even women, like Paul who have the same spirit as Paul will never act like Paul because they are afraid of being labled or accused as a child molester?"

You know, there was a study done in England the results of which were released about a month ago which said that more than 2/3 of men and about 2/5 of women would NOT come to the aid of a child they saw in distress for fear of being accused of trying to abduct or molest the child. How genuinely sad is it that there are children who ARE suffering and who WILL suffer because the state, not just in America, but in all of western society, has gone so overboard in prosecuting anyone and everyone who so much as looks at a child?

As for the state of affairs with adoptions, I have a cousin in Georgia who has foster parented for most of her married life. She recently received two girls about 5 and 6 years old. The state lied to them about all sorts of things, and withheld information, VITAL information about medications. There was one medication that my cousin was never told about by the agency, and the other week when she was with the girl at the hospital for an MRI (the poor girl has cancer, at 6, she has brain cancer!--bless her), and while there the doctor asked about a medication that was in her medical file, and my cousin never knew she was supposed to take it. You would think that if she's taking meds, not only would they tell the foster parents about them, they'd provide a list. Nope! Not Georgia! And, this medicine was something that had the girl gone another weak without, she could have died. And, you know how Georgia now operates, if a child dies, the parents are AUTOMATICALLY investigated. You could bet your bottom dollar that the agency would like and say they informed my cousin, and she'd go to jail for child abuse or worse. So, and I hate to say this, if my cousin's foster daughter didn't have cancer, and if that doctor hadn't just casually mention that medicine in her file, my cousin, for all the good she has done, would probably be in jail right now. Seriously folks, government agencies have lost it. We don't need another revolution. What we need is FULL accountability from those in government.

Really good article from Dennis Norwood about the Mulkey verdict today! Even though it was good news for Mulkey, the quote from Van Pelt about the legislature "ruining it for them" is very telling. What a load of crap he spouts! This judge will be on the ballot this fall. VOTE NO TO RETAIN!!!

Judge Van Pelt said, “If these statutes had been like we’ve been living with for however many years the outcome today would be quite different. As it is, the legislature has tinkered with the statutes and really messed things up for us.”

"one has to wonder what an officer does wrong to be put on "tag light" duty."

Police Chief to the soon-to-be arresting officer:"You get your butt out there and start pulling people over for obscure and mundane offenses, and don't drag your sorry butt back in here until you've learned how to PROPERLY frame someone for a crime. This is the police force, d-mnit! You've got to learn how to abuse your authority and screw up people's lives. We have a reputation to uphold."

You are not being paranoid. You are being prudent. I have case after case across the country and i nthe UK of false accusations made by teenagers. Many times, without competent counsel, fathers and sometimes, mothers do go to jail and the family is torn asunder.

Bill, thank you for sharing this story. It is so sad & scary to know that this child could end up in a loving home, but it is not worth the risk. There are commercials & advertisements online & radio asking people to adopt older children, but yet they literally make it impossible to do so. It is virtually impossible to adopt American babies also. I have so many friends who have done the same as you & gone overseas to adopt, not once, not twice, but most are on their 3rd or 4th adoptions. You know how much it costs, but in the long run, is so worth it.

Due to medical reasons, my husband & I have not been able to have anymore children, but have considered adoption. We too would be willing to take in an older child, but have been warned of the risks. We would like to adopt a boy, but our biggest problem with that is we have a teenage daughter & a lot of the kids from messed up family lives also pose a risk for something happening there.

I was at a friend's yard sale a couple of weeks ago helping out. This lady came in (late 40's) and was talking about a woman she encountered at church the week before. She was caring for her 5 month old grandson (both parents on meth), but couldn't afford to care for him financially or for health reasons. She was putting the child into foster care. She literally asked the woman if she was interested in adopting the child, that she had all parental rights & would make it very easy for her. The woman was very eager to do it, but her husband reminded her that they had grandchildren & it would be very hard for them & their age. My friend said, "well, she (referring to me) would love to take that child". The woman said, "honestly, the child could pass for yours, same hair color, eye color...would be perfect". So I got the number & after discussing with my husband, I called the lady. It was too late. The child had already been put into foster care. Don't get me wrong, I know wonderful people who do foster care, but I also know people who only do it for the money. I was and still am just sick over it. The woman is trying to see what she can do to get the little boy back so we can get him, but now that he's "in the system", I doubt that will happen. I will keep on praying & ask for others to pray. From what I understand, the baby does not have any problems due to the parents' drug abuse & he is just a smiling, happy baby.

Sorry so long, but if not prayers for us to get this child, but for him to end up in a love-filled home & cared for to the fullest.

I would love to go to the Echols trial. Could we find out his favorite color or possibly just agree on a certain color to wear? Don't forget, they are being strict for the high profile cases, so nothing can have logos or words on it. Well, unless you sit on the prosecution side. :-)

About Me

I teach economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. We are located on the Allegheny Plateau, and we have cool summers and tough winters.
I am the single father of five children, four of them adopted from overseas and I have two grandchildren. My family and I are members of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA).